Rhonda had a liver transplant

There was no organ transplant waitlist when doctors discovered 6-week-old Rhonda was dying from liver disease. In the early 80s, children with biliary atresia rarely lived long and only the US had successfully transplanted livers. 

Rhonda’s family moved from Papua New Guinea to be closer to medical specialists in Brisbane. In early 1985, with their daughter clinging to life, they were thrown a lifeline by Princess Alexandra Hospital’s pioneering liver transplant team who had successfully transplanted an adult liver. 

‘I was going to be a guinea pig basically,’ said Rhonda, as she looks back over 40 years. ‘For me, I don’t remember anything, but I know my family was over the moon.’ 

After becoming the first child in Australia to have a liver transplant, everything was a first for Rhonda. No one knew how her growing body would adapt to her new liver or how long it would last. Incredibly, her original liver transplant lasted 3 times as long as they expected – 27 years – allowing her to grow up normally and become a mum to 3 beautiful children.  

Suddenly, Rhonda needed a second transplant when both her liver and kidneys shut down. By the time a donor liver became available, Rhonda was acutely unwell. 

‘My second transplant was a whole different ball game since I was now an adult with a family, and the onset was so sudden and quick,’ said Rhonda. 

Recovering was much more onerous for her. The discipline required to recover her health and learning to walk again has never left her.  

Each morning, Rhonda can still be found training diligently at the gym in honour of her donors and their families.  

‘I feel forever grateful for the gift of life they chose to give me in their darkest hour, and I will forever live my life to the best I can in honour of that,’ says Rhonda. ‘I think about the people who gave me life every day.’